1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a traffic simulator, and in particular, a traffic simulator that reproduces the movement of vehicles by a computer, and simulates traffic states, such as traffic flow and congestion, the occurrence of accidents, and the like.
2. Background Art
When designing a road traffic system, it is very important to evaluate in advance which locations should be improved and in what manner to achieve the effect of preventing traffic congestion and the like. To this end, traffic simulators have been proposed in which the movement of each individual vehicle is reproduced by a computer, and traffic conditions, such as traffic flow and congestion, and the occurrence of accidents, and the like, are simulated (for example, see Patent Documents 1 and 2 below).
In this type of traffic simulator, cautionary objects within a predetermined range from a vehicle, such as traffic lights, preceding vehicles, oncoming vehicles and the like which a driver of a vehicle should heed when driving on a road, are recognized, and after judging, in order, what color the traffic lights are, whether the vehicle will impact with a preceding vehicle or impact with an oncoming vehicle, and the like, the movement of the vehicle is determined.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 11-144183    Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 8-194882